


A New Home

by sharkcar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Adoption, Atonement - Freeform, Babies, Birth, Caper Fic, Defiance, Detective Obi-Wan, Family, Father Obi-Wan, Fatherhood, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Visions, Foster Family, General Obi-Wan, Hope, Jedi, Jedi Mind Trick, Jedi Piggyback, Moraband, Mos Eisley, Motherhood, Organa Suave, Politics (Star Wars), Pride, Prophecy, Refugees, Rule of Two, Scientific Curiosity, Sith, Skywalker Name, Taking responsibility, Tatooine, Teacher Obi-Wan, The Beard, The Twilight (Star Wars), Tosche Station, Trust, Utapau, Wakes & Funerals, bureaucrats, failure - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:18:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6459166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkcar/pseuds/sharkcar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Padme Amidala dies, Obi-Wan's hopes of bringing the galaxy back into balance seem to be dead. As far as he is concerned, the Sith have won and all he has left is to stay true to himself in defeat. He must devise the perfect plan to keep anyone from looking for Padme's children. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Senator Organa embark on a mission to cover up what happened to Padme, using the simplest of deceptions. When a small voice makes contact with him through the Force, Obi-Wan must grapple with his identity and his purpose as he brings young Luke to his new home.</p><p>Explanations for a lot of questions, I guess. Also, Obi-Wan trying to figure out what to do with a baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Home

**Author's Note:**

> Some dialogue taken from "Revenge of the Sith" by George Lucas, The Clone Wars episode "In Search of the Crytal" by Daniel Arkin, and The Star Wars Rebels episode "Spark of Rebellion".

There had been no time for anesthetic. Padme had insisted that the situation was urgent. Now her cries were as sharp and jagged as metal wreckage. Her formerly placid state had given way to distress as soon as the medics started inducing the contractions. She was afraid. I thought the surgery was frightening her. It had to have been painful but she could barely move on the table, her lower half was restrained in the operating hood. I walked into the room and leaned over her, trying to calm her, to give her what strength I could. When I reached out to her, she revealed what she was afraid of. Her life was not slipping, it was being drained, she felt herself being pulled away and was struggling against it. She was using every ounce of her remaining strength to birth the twins and push them out of harm’s way, so that whatever was taking her could not reach them, too. She fought to her last to protect her children. I had raised a child, I understood all too well.  
  
The droid removed the first child from her and Padme calmed slightly. “Isita oido,” it said in the gentle voice frequently given to surgeon droids.  
  
“Luke,” Padme was still breathing heavily. They droid handed the baby to me, balanced on a tiny blanket. His skin was red and wrinkled, with a pale translucent surface from being waterlogged. Luke kept his little eyes shut against the light of the operating room and squirmed his limbs restlessly. I lowered him so that she could see him. “Oh, Luke,” she said weakly and brushed his cheek with the back of her hand.  
  
The surgeon droid reached inside her again to pull out the other child. Padme cried in pain. I sensed that whatever was killing her was feeding on her suffering, savoring it, wanting it to increase.  
  
The surgeon droid lifted out another baby and held her up so that Padme could see, “Isita oida.”  
  
“It’s a girl,” I translated the surgeon’s words.  
  
“Leia,” Padme said and sobbed.  
  
I actually don’t think I’d ever held a baby before. Children, yes. Since I had raised a child, I had learned that I liked children. When I was a child, I don’t think I did. I didn’t have time for their foolishness. I spent my time in the archives, learning, not just about the Force, but about the universe. I loved knowing about the galaxy, how it worked, what was in it, about its past. I was seen as a bit of a know-it-all because I could think in a way that was different from my peers at the Jedi Temple. Jedi younglings tried to sense their ways through everything, while I could often solve a problem just by looking at evidence logically. The other younglings would say, “Obi-Wan is playing detective again.” Of course, I was also gifted in the Force. Master Yoda, who had trained me as a child, had advised me to use my curiosity to reach out and know the universe through the cosmic Force.  
  
It was not until I became a padawan that my master, Qui Gon Jinn, taught me to tap into the living Force, connecting with others beings using compassion. It was he who taught me about children. When I raised Anakin, I had struggled to get him to trust me. He thought me too bound by the Jedi Code, too in control and detached. With Anakin, I let my compassion guide me and I treated him as I felt for him naturally, like family. I learned that humility, gentleness, and sincerity are the ways to speak to children’s open hearts.  
  
Now, as I cradled Anakin’s infant son, I looked down and my heart called out to him in despair. _Anakin, I know you can sense me._ _Why did you do it? Why did you believe the lies? I wouldn’t have betrayed your trust. I couldn’t kill you. I loved you, Anakin._ I allowed the tears to stay on my face. I was still broken from my fight with Vader and I just didn’t see how my peace of mind mattered. As a Jedi, I would’ve had to get in control of myself. I was no longer a Jedi, I thought. There was no Jedi Order left.  
  
Then I sensed it, a tiny voice in my mind. From the voice I sensed only compassion, so I let it in. _Who is Anakin?_ My thoughts reached out again, trying to sense Anakin’s familiar presence. I felt only fear, anger, pain, hatred. Then the tiny voice came again. _He is suffering! What can we do to help him?_  
  
Then Anakin’s mind closed shut. I couldn’t sense him anymore. The familiar connection that had been with me for all those years was suddenly not there. Not dead, just gone, taken away. It its place was only darkness.  
  
“Obi-Wan, there’s good in him,” Padme told me between weak sobs of pain, “I know there’s still…still…” Her head fell gently to the side as her eyes closed and her essence faded away into the cosmic Force.  
  
I didn’t believe her. I had seen too much. Baby Luke wailed. Padme’s breath expired. My last ounce of hope died.  
  
\--  
  
The medical droids came to me to collect the baby. They would clean, dress, and feed the twins, I assumed. I was numb, so I just stood. Then, since I couldn’t imagine that they would need me for anything, I turned to go. I closed my eyes and breathed to find some peace. Then, I just caught the smallest hint of something through the Force.  
  
_Mother is beautiful, but so sad._  
  
_That man is sad too, but kind._  
  
It was so faint that I wasn’t sure I’d really heard it. I turned, trying to detect the source. But I heard no more.  
  
\--  
  
I left the operating room and stood before Senator Organa. “General Kenobi, I realize that this is a difficult time, but we need to discuss our plans,” he said in a low tone. I nodded, and Yoda and I followed him into another room. “Surely you know that I cannot safely disappear for long,” he said, sitting down in a chair while maintaining his regal posture throughout the action, “I have my duties and I am being watched by the Emperor. At the Jedi Temple, I saw clones gun down a youngling. Sooner or later, the Emperor will expect me to come and give my ‘interpretation’ of the situation,” Senator Organa was right. He would have to say that he didn’t see any wrongdoing and that he understood the Jedi were criminals. He would have to reiterate his loyalty to the senate and the man who ruled it. I hoped that he was strong enough to keep Darth Sideous from reading his mind. Most men wouldn’t be. But most men were not Bail Organa.  
  
“I don’t want to know anything more about what just happened here,” he gestured with an open palm, “I knew that Padme was pregnant, but she always made it clear that she could not talk about it. I had my suspicions, but I did not give into gossip. All I need to know is, are the children in danger?”  
  
“Yes,” I said earnestly.  
  
“Understood,” I did not need to tell him from whom the children were in danger. The Emperor had just labeled the Jedi as traitors to the Republic. The Jedi were an obvious threat to his military power, with our abilities and experience. As heroes of the war, we were popular and we could have fomented rebellion. Therefore, we could assume that the Emperor’s extermination of even potential Jedi would continue. To Senator Organa, Yoda and my presence confirmed whose children they were, but the senator assumed that Anakin and Padme had been killed in the Emperor’s purge. Without real knowledge of the truth, it would be easier for him to fool Darth Sideous. “Will it be possible to shield them, to cloud minds with the Force so that they can’t be found?”  
  
“The Sith, too powerful they are. Sense any attempt would they, to use the Force to deceive them.” Yoda shook his head.  
  
“No,” I heard myself saying. “No, we must rely on our wits. We have to use good old fashioned subterfuge. Our plan is to be so simple that no one will realize there has even been deception,” I fell back easily into my role as general. It was a comfort to be something other than a Jedi.  
  
When I faced opponents, I had always used my ‘detective’ skills. What threw my adversaries off balance was my ability not just to sense more but to perceive more than they did. I was always one step ahead of those who attempted to deceive me because I could see the clues. I saw things that my Force wielding enemies did not because they were too focused on the wider battle, they missed the simple details. Against my military opponents, I was called ‘The Negotiator’, not because of my diplomacy, but because I often used confusing tactics. I would baffle my opponents with military protocols or arcane rules of conduct, or I would convince them to believe they had the advantage. Meanwhile, the plan was going on behind their backs. I never revealed my hand until it was all over.  
  
“If the Empire thought that the children were alive, they would hunt them,” I continued, “We have to give Emperor Palpatine no reason to assume the children lived. We have to involve as few people as possible and we have to be sure that everyone thinks they know the truth.”  
  
“And you’ll tell them what ‘truths’ to believe?” Organa waved a hand. He had dealt with Jedi. He had seen us perform the Jedi mind trick. Non-Force wielders really envied that ability.  
  
“There will be no need. They will see what we show them and come to their own conclusions,” I stroked my beard. If Sideous ever grew suspicious of the situation, he would think about the children and might sense them. Therefore, nothing could look out of place. Anyone Darth Sideous would speak to had to think that they were speaking the truth, which they would be, from a certain point of view. We had to make the Sith look away to other matters, it was the only way to get the children to safety.  
  
\--  
  
The first thing we had to do was take Padme’s body back to her home on Naboo. To have her simply disappear would have made Darth Sideous paranoid. He would never stop looking for her and the children then. Padme was a public official, she needed a public funeral.  
  
I told the senator to contact the Queen of Naboo to tell her that there had been an accident.  
  
“I will tell her it is a matter of some…delicacy,” his tone managed to imply more than he said. Secrecy and inference, such are the ways of palace intrigue. From my face, he must have seen I was scandalized. I did not want to tarnish Padme’s reputation by implying some tawdry affair. “If the queen believes that this was a personal problem, she will be expected to keep the details private out of respect for Padme’s station and she will not ask questions. Trust me, this is my realm.”  
  
We were to land in Theed the next day. People were still celebrating the end of the Clone War and the formation of the Empire. They were too distracted to be looking for fugitive Jedi, we hoped. We arranged to meet the queen after dark to put the next step into effect. The senator asked me to go with him to try to sense a trap. If I did, we had to flee quickly.  
  
A meeting with the queen would require a bit of decorum. I went to my quarters on the ship and tried to use the shabby machine to wash my clothes. They were filthy, torn, and burned. The machine did a terrible job, I groused. But I redressed myself in them anyway. They were my last set of Jedi robes. There was no more Jedi Order and yet I kept wearing their regalia. Maybe it was habit, I had worn them my whole life, nothing else really felt comfortable. Maybe it was defiance. By wearing them openly, I was telling my antagonists that I was not afraid. Maybe the robes were so much a part of me that I couldn’t set them aside and not feel like I was betraying myself.  
  
A knock came at the door. I went and pressed the panel and the door slid open. On the other side I found a droid holding a tiny bundle.  
  
“What’s this?” I chuckled slightly.  
  
“Senator Organa has the girl one, but the boy one needs to be fed,” the droid said in that jovial voice programming designed to approximate bedside manner.  
  
“Yes, that will be fine, do that,” I reached for the panel but the droid started to speak again.  
  
It reached out and handed me the baby, “He is out of the incubator, therefore he is safe for human contact,” I wasn’t sure I was. I took the boy because that was the only option other than dropping him. The droid then handed me a bottle and a cloth.  
  
“Surely Master Yoda...,” I stopped short of trying to hand the baby back.  
  
“Master Yoda is meditating,” the droid responded and flew down the hallway.  
  
“Well little one, I suppose we are stuck with each other,” I said gently and carried him into my small room.  
  
I sat on the bed and cradled the tiny being in my arms. He started to fuss and whimper, threatening to cry. I tipped the bottle into his mouth and he drank greedily. I tried to make soothing sounds. His face was still a knot of wrinkled skin. But while he was having his drink, he looked up at me. His eyes were the clearest, purest blue and spoke of a comprehension beyond his age. Just like his father, I mused. I knew then where that little voice in the operating room had come from.  
  
I grew sad. He might live his whole life never knowing a Force connection to another person, I thought. I had spent my life knowing thousands of Jedi through the living Force and the sense of communion was always comforting. Luke would never know it because there were almost none of us left. It would be a lonely life. It was my fault.  
  
“I’m sorry, young one. But I will protect you, I promise,” I cradled him closer.  
  
After his supper, I laid Luke against my shoulder and patted his back. I rocked him. I walked around the small space for what seemed like an eternity. The boy could fight sleep, I observed. My soothing sounds gave way to speaking to him a whispering singsong voice, narrating the contents of my sparse quarters. Finally I started telling him in the same voice that how positively ridiculous I felt and begged him to be merciful. I was glad that no one saw me. By the time Yoda came to find me, I had gotten young Luke to sleep and had placed him on my bed swaddled in his blanket.  
  
“Forging a bond with the young Skywalker I see,” Master Yoda was actually smiling. I had found it hard to smile since everything had happened.  
  
“He’s a strong little boy,” I patted Luke on the back and took a seat on the floor. Master Yoda sat down as well.  
  
\--  
  
It had not been that long ago that Master Yoda and I had last spoken like this. Yet, so much had changed. The last time was during the war. We were winning, but at a terrible cost. Everywhere was distrust, anger, fear, suffering, death. For years it had chipped away at the Jedi, our purpose was often compromised, our tactics tainted with doubt. The more that unfolded, the more it seemed that something was controlling us. We believed that we were trying to serve the greater good, but increasingly, it seemed like our only choice was to take the lesser of two evils.  
  
It was nearly the end of the war. I had been ordered to Utapau to check the system. Rumor was that General Grievous was hiding there and a chance to kill him was a chance to end the fighting once and for all. I went to see Master Yoda about a confusing vision I’d had. I’d seen it before.  
  
I dreamed that I was on another world. Not Utapau, I knew, Utapau was grassland and sinkholes. This was a desert world, a dead world. It could have been Moraband, the Sith home world, I thought. Long ago, Moraband had been utterly destroyed with ceaseless war until it was an empty desert, with unforgiving heat, and never ending dust choking the air. This was the consequence of the Sith vision, I knew, total destruction. Nothing survived it. I was afraid of what this vision meant for the war. In the dream, I walked along a ravine and then against a barren rock cliff, I found a plant. "What is this," I asked no one in particular. “Hope,” I heard a voice say.  
  
I finished my account and looked in askance at Master Yoda.  
  
“Hope, it was,” he agreed.  
  
“But Master, the plant was not a feeling, but a living thing.”  
  
“Hope, of the living Force it is, belongs to living things it does. The way of the living Force it behaves. The living Force must die and regenerate to stay in balance. Hope can die, not all we wish for comes to pass. But in the place that it was lost, new hopes emerge.”  
  
Master Yoda’s words calmed me at the time because I believed that we would be victorious. I threw all of my strength behind ending the war, fighting to the death with Grievous, the leader of the Separatist armies. I honestly thought that we had finally won.  
  
Then it happened, the shroud of the Dark Side was pulled back to reveal how wrong we had all been. The war had been the ultimate misdirection. The Sith were controlling both sides and already ruled the galaxy. They wiped out the Jedi and reigned supreme without a credible threat to their power. Still, Master Yoda and I did not give up, even when facing horrors. At the Jedi Temple, we had to kill hundreds of clones just to get in. Many of those men had been my friends, the boys of Anakin’s 501st Legion. When we made our way inside, all we found was more death and pain, every Jedi inside slaughtered, security holograms everywhere showing Darth Vader, formerly my apprentice, cutting them down. I sent a message to any remaining Jedi, telling them to stay away from the temple. I recalled Yoda’s words and used them as a lifeline, desperately clinging to the notion that enough of us were in hiding and that we would rally against the Sith.  
  
“This is Master Obi Wan Kenobi. I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the temple. That time is past. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged, our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you, always.” No one responded to the message. Across the galaxy, the light side of the Force went quiet and empty.  
  
As Jedi, Yoda’s and my purpose was to defend others. The Sith were a threat to all beings in the galaxy, we knew we had to destroy them. But I knew I wasn’t ready to face Anakin -Darth Vader- and the failure I had become. He wanted to kill me. His hate would have made it possible. He thought that I was there to kill him. I told him that I would do what I must. And then, in the end, I did not do what I should, but I did the only thing I could. I let him live. My loyalty to the Jedi Code meant that I could not kill the defenseless or use my power in anger. My honor required that I keep my promise to protect and train Anakin. My love for him wouldn’t allow me to kill him. These three most fundamental things in my life; loyalty, honor, and love; were things that I had taught my apprentice and Vader had rejected them. Now that Vader was strong again, he would come for me someday, I knew. How would I be able to fight against the Sith when I knew I could never betray myself? I was already doomed. It was just a matter of time.  
  
\--  
  
We sat on the floor of my quarters on the senator’s ship.  
  
“How feel you?” Yoda asked me.  
  
“Master Yoda, I admit I am having trouble keeping hope.”  
  
“No hope is there? What hopes had you before?” Master Yoda pursed his wrinkled mouth.  
  
“That we would win. The Sith will not rest until every planet in the galaxy looks like Moraband and no one is strong enough to stop them,” I sighed.  
  
“Then why go on, do you?” Master Yoda grabbed a piece of my dirty looking tunic, “Why continue? Believe in something you must?”  
  
“Because it is who I am, who I choose to be,” I sat up straighter, “I failed and when I make a mistake, I do everything I can to make up for it. For that, I will never stop fighting. I may even lose my life, but I will not lose my honor, I will not lose myself.”  
  
“Stubborn are you, your Master’s defiance you still have. But fight on, you do, because know you do that there is something left to protect. What is that, if not hope?”  
  
“Stubborn is probably all I am. It’s not a good quality. Qui Gon was stubborn. He had unquestioning faith in Anakin and his error has doomed us. I believed in him, I believed in myself, I was sure that I would not fail to fulfill my destiny.”  
  
“And what did you imagine your destiny to be?”  
  
“I thought that with my training, Anakin would end the war and defeat the Sith. That he would bring on a new era of peace and prosperity and that I’d be there to see it,” I admitted wearily, “Nothing I hoped for came true. Now all I see is my failure.”  
  
“Clouded by pride, that wish was. Come to pass, it will not. Let go of your pride. See things clearly you will. In the future, your true purpose awaits,” he bunched up the little green face as he did when he gave us an important lesson, “Then everything that you have been, you will be again. Your wishes may yet be realized.”  
  
“The Force is out of balance, I doubt there is any more purpose for me,” I seemed to be begging to be left alone.  
  
“As out of balance, it was before, but in our arrogance, realized it, we did not. For this, we Jedi have paid a terrible price. Now know, we do, what we are up against. Fulfill we must, our destinies. With hope can we bring the light back to balance the darkness.”  
  
“But the prophecy was wrong. Anakin didn’t destroy the Sith, he became one,” I shook my head.  
  
“Your old apprentice still lives, does he not? So sure are you that this story is at an end? Suffered a defeat, we have. But return we will and win we may yet.”  
  
“How can you have faith even when things are so stacked against us?”  
  
“Faith I have, in myself, in you, in all of us who will not give in to fear, the living things, that have hope.”  
  
“It was my job to train Anakin to be strong enough to resist the dark.”  
  
“Fail at a task, anyone can. The Dark Side, a temptation it is to us all. Remember, should you, that a padawan of mine fell to the lure of the Sith. Died he did, a failure as a Jedi and a failure as a Sith. Hopeless I have not become.” I had forgotten that Cound Dooku was once Yoda’s apprentice. “But trained Anakin you did. Everything you taught him, he still knows,” Yoda smiled again.  
  
“He is a Sith and someone must destroy them! I taught him to be a Jedi! He is now the opposite of everything I trained him to be.”  
  
“Taught him more than that, you did.”  
  
“I don’t see how the Sith could be destroyed.”  
  
“Weaken we must, the hold of the Dark Side over your apprentice, and defeat them, we can,” Yoda nodded.  
  
“How would we do that?” I furrowed my brow.  
  
Yoda looked at the baby.  
  
\--  
  
As we were nearing Theed, we moved on to the next phase of the plan, finding a new home for the children.  
  
“Hidden, safe, the children must be kept,” Yoda said in a low voice. Well, low for him.  
  
My head was hanging and my hand was covering my chin. My voice was pained, “We must take them somewhere where the Sith will not sense their presence.”  
  
Yoda closed his eyes and scratched the back of his neck, nodding slowly, “Hmm,” he swiveled his chair to look at Senator Organa. “Split up, they should be.”  
  
The senator thought for a moment, “My wife and I will take the girl. We’ve always talked of adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us.” I could sense that the senator was afraid. For some reason, I think he imagined that the girl would be like Padme, with no Force sensitivity, no danger. The truth was we weren’t sure. But somehow even the senator knew that Luke was like his father.  
  
“And what of the boy?” I had already decided that I would go wherever he went.  
  
Yoda swiveled the chair back towards me. “To Tatooine,” he waved his open palm, “To his family send him.” Years ago I had told Master Yoda about the family that Anakin’s mother had there.  
  
“I will take the child and watch over him,” I furrowed my brow. It was not up for discussion.  
  
Senator Organa and I both stood and bowed to Master Yoda, “Until the time is right, disappear we will,” he said to me.  
  
Senator Organa left to contact the palace hangar for our landing.  
  
I turned to go myself, but Master Yoda raised a claw, “Master Kenobi, wait a moment.” I sat back down.“In your solitude on Tatooine, training I have for you.”  
  
I was still feeling hopeless. It was everything I could do to not let it turn to anger. The last thing I needed in that moment was orders. My face looked somewhat defiant, I’m ashamed to say. But I am known for being polite, “Training?” was all I said.  
  
“An old friend has learned the path to immortality,” he said. That’s it, I thought, Master Yoda had cracked under the stress. “One who has returned from the netherworld of the Force. Your old master.”  
  
“Qui Gon?” I remembered the voice in my Force vision had been his.  
  
“How to commune with him, I will teach you,” Yoda was serious.  
  
I had been feeling like I was drowning, I could hardly breathe. With so few Force sensitive beings, the galaxy had become very empty and vast. I felt that I would never see the light again. But in that moment, the tiniest little light beamed in the darkness, shining true and clear.  
  
\--  
  
I went with Senator Organa to the palace that night and I could not go out without a disguise. My purpose was to gather information, I needed to be inconspicuous. I had been fighting the Clone War for three years as a prominent general. My face was all over the Holonet news, practically every day. Now I was supposed to be dead. I covered my Jedi regalia with one of the senator’s capes. It was very nice, I had to admit, the man did know how to dress. But underneath my clothes still looked filthy. I would let the palace staff infer that I was a lower ranking member of his security team. I would need to cover my face to some extent. I thought about a shave, but I was attached to the beard. Like my Jedi robes, it told a story of a part of my life that was happier. Once again, I clung to my identity. The beard stayed. Seeing this, Master Yoda handed me a pilot’s helmet. With the damned blast shield down, I couldn’t even see anything. I was sure I looked like a fool, but I think that may have been Master Yoda’s plan.  
  
At the palace, the Queen led us in to private quarters to discuss Padme in hushed voices. I stood back, trying not to attract attention. “There has been an accident,” Senator Organa said gravely, “Senator Amidala was in a delicate condition. Something went wrong. She had not sought any medical care. We believe it is because she was trying to keep it out of the Republic medical databases,” this was all true, but by his intonation, Organa managed to emphasize the words in just the right way to imply everything he wanted the Queen to think. This man didn’t need Jedi mind tricks, he was good.  
  
“I wish she had just confided in me. I would have helped her make arrangements to handle it quietly,” the queen barely moved. Keeping those headdresses on was tricky.  
  
“We will only need a very discrete mortician to handle the arrangements. We’ll leave to you what account to give to the press,” the senator nodded formally. The Queen sent a staff member to get the mortician’s information.  
  
I believe that the Queen assumed Senator Organa had been the father. He was married but his wife rarely accompanied him off world. Padme and Senator Organa had worked together frequently and appeared together often. I wondered if there were already rumors about them. It worked to our advantage. The Queen now had her story, should the Emperor come asking.  
  
When we got up to leave, the Queen stopped us, “We will see you at the funeral. Emperor Palpatine is attending himself and has specifically requested that you stay for it.”  
  
Senator Organa didn’t miss a beat, “Of course.”  
  
\--  
  
When we returned to the ship, Senator Organa had a staff member take baby Leia to a refugee orphanage. Before the funeral, he would call a press conference to announce his adoption of a baby girl in Padme’s honor. Everyone would assume that Leia came from the orphanage. As a refugee, she would be a child without a past. The Senator was known for his good works and acts of charity. The story would go unquestioned.  
  
Master Yoda could not move safely outside of the ship. So he had stayed behind while we were at the palace. I returned to find him pacing around the ship’s common room looking slightly weary, but not sad. He was carrying the baby boy in a kind of makeshift backpack, obviously playing young Luke’s favorite game of Make the Jedi Master Look Idiotic. The tiny head was rested against Yoda’s shoulder and the baby was soon fast asleep. Looking at them, I knew that my spirit had been soothed, I found it hard not to laugh.  
  
“Arrangements you have made?” he looked up at me from below. His eyes were enormous.  
  
I sat down at a small table, “Yes, she will not pursue it further. She suggested a mortician who was a friend of Padme’s,” I paused for a moment. “Master, we have a problem. The Emperor knows that Senator Organa is here. He has been ordered not to leave.”  
  
“In danger we are, flee we must,” Yoda closed his eyes, “Know where to go, do you?”  
  
“Yes,” I had never told him more than the planet the family lived on. Padme had said that the family was called Lars, the son’s name was Owen and that the nearest settlement was Mos Eisley. No one else but Padme knew of Anakin’s connection to the family. No one except Darth Vader. Anakin hated Tatooine, with his mother gone, he’d never willingly come near it. I did have one concern, “Master Yoda, these people are practically strangers. Wouldn’t the boy be safer with us, having Jedi to protect him and train him?”  
  
“Be with you he cannot. If discovered we are, out of harm’s way, the children must remain. Hunted are we, a safe home, we cannot provide.”  
  
“How will the girl be safe, she’ll be a public figure before she can walk? Surely she will be found out,” I knitted my brow. The girl’s fate was being planned by the Senator and Yoda. I admit I had concerns.  
  
“Unaware of her connection, she must remain. Her ignorance her shield will be. Strong willed she will be,” he seemed sure of himself. I did not know whether the girl was sensitive to the Force, she had not reached out to me as the boy had.  
  
“So our plans will be different for the boy?” I was eager to train him, to redeem myself. Some part of me was also looking for something to replace the loss I felt.  
  
“The boy is different. A connection to Vader, he already has made,” Master Yoda hung his head and shook it.  
  
“How is that possible?” I asked, but I thought I knew.  
  
“Reached out to him, the boy did. Precocious he is in his use of the Force. Sensed it yourself, I believe,” Yoda crossed his hands.  
  
I had. To my horror, I realized that his connection to Vader was through me. The first time I’d held the baby, the wound of my rift with Anakin was still open and bleeding. The boy felt it. The two of us had mourned the loss together, seeking Anakin’s presence. For a moment, we’d both felt Vader’s pain and fear, somewhere far away.  
  
The baby started to fuss. Yoda turned and I lifted the baby out of the backpack and embraced him in the cape.  
  
“Restless is he. Be at peace, he will not. Known the Force already has he. Always will he be seeking answers, looking outwardly,” Master Yoda scrambled onto a chair, “like someone else I knew,” he pointed at me.  
  
“Master, I daresay that you might be getting a bit attached to our tiny friend,” I began to pat the baby’s back gently.  
  
“To his father as well, attached was I. Though to me, he was not,” I was surprised to hear Yoda admit this. It wasn’t just I that had caused Luke to connect to Vader, Master Yoda had been there as well.  
  
“Master, how were you and Anakin connected?” I had lowered my voice to a near whisper so as not to disturb little Luke.  
  
“Sensitive to the Force, Skywalker was, more than any other. Learned, have I, through the centuries. Aware of the Force, I am, in many ways that others are not. Yet, knew them, Skywalker did. Open to him, I was, trusted him I did. When emotions he had, felt them I did. But trust me, he did not. Remember, I do, the council meeting, when first discussed his training was. Disagreed with Qui Gon, we did. After this, never did the boy reach out to me, always shielded was his mind from me. Only once a decision he made, sense his feelings I could. Helpless was I to intervene.”  
  
“We exposed this little boy to Vader. I don’t know if Vader realized it,” I watched the baby’s breathing, silent and gentle. “Master, if the boy is the key to destroying the Sith, I must train him. The three of us might be strong enough to face them together.”  
  
“Your attachment, speaking for you it is. Remember your Jedi principles, your mission. Protect him you must. Just as his father’s training, your mission was. To destroy the Sith, another’s destiny that is.”  
  
“But we can’t let Luke face the Sith alone,” I practically pleaded.  
  
“His choice, that is, make it for him, you cannot. In time, answers will he seek. Trust him, you must,” Yoda folded his wrinkled green hands.  
  
“Will he know to trust me?”  
  
“A connection you already have. In time, seek you out he will,”  
  
“Master, if I am to protect the boy, how can I send him to Vader?” I shook my head.  
  
“Send him you will not, seek each other they will,” he opened his eyes wider for emphasis, “Closed, Vader’s mind is to us. Speak to him, I never could. Train him I did not. Trust me he did not. Only you who trained him, did he trust. Connected to him, you still are. Kill him you could not. Lead him to one who can.”  
  
“If I couldn’t kill Anakin, how can I let the boy to destroy him?”  
  
“Train him, somehow, you will. But in his training, you must take care. Only teach him what you should,” Yoda’s ears wiggled as he shook his head.  
  
“And what will that be,” I moved Luke to my shoulder when he fussed and patted his back until he fell back to sleep. I moved him back to my lap.  
  
“Taught one student already, have you? What did you teach him?”  
  
“This is different.”  
  
“No, no different. You will teach him what you feel is right.”  
  
I couldn’t imagine that Luke would ever be ready to face Vader in power, even if, as Yoda implied, we could weaken Vader’s ties to the dark to throw him off balance. I didn’t know if it would work. I had just faced Vader and it took everything I had. He could have beaten me, he was stronger. I threw him some line about having the high ground. It was misdirection, just a tactic to make him doubt himself, to hesitate. He always was too emotional in a fight. I had been Anakin’s dueling partner for years. He was faster than me but I knew his moves. His hesitation allowed me to anticipate him. Yet, as his dueling partner, I remembered that any tricks I tried only worked on him once.  
  
The baby was so small in my arms. I placed my little finger in his hand and he gripped it reflexively. His tiny fingers curled around mine looking so breakable. How could I use him as a weapon? No, I thought, the boy was never supposed to equal Vader in power. Then I thought of Padme’s words. Maybe, he could remind Anakin that he had a heart.  
  
\--  
  
Senator Organa was conducting tours of refugee centers with the press. He said that on the occasion of Padme’s death, he was taking an opportunity to speak on an issue she cared about. He was already pledging that the Empire would do everything it could to help people rebuild or relocate now that the war was over. He was keeping our plan in motion and still managing to bait the Emperor. The Senator made it seem effortless. I admired his suave.  
  
While he was running the distraction, I had to affect the most delicate part of the plan. The mortician was coming to the ship to collect Padme’s body and he was the only one that would have information that could unravel our ruse. Senator Organa suggested that we let someone else take care of arrangements, but I had to be sure that it would be done and I was not going to let anyone die for keeping secrets for me.  
  
Over my clothes, I threw on an embroidered robe and hat that I’d borrowed from a tailor in Theed. It was the regalia of some kind of high level administrator. This was Naboo so the outfit was completely ludicrous. I knew that the mortician was Theedan, so he would only focus on my clothes rather than my face. As I looked in the mirror, Master Yoda frowned. “Trust me, Master,” I smiled.  
  
The mortician was a bureaucratic type, with fancy jewelry and manicured hands. He entered the room, sweating under his fancy brocade. I knew a Jedi mind trick would work easily on him, but I had to suppress the urge. I sat across from him, cradling the baby.  
  
“Commodex Than,” he said nervously, “I knew Senator Amidala when she was queen.” He spoke in hushed tones and looked down as he spoke, as those in the funeral industry tend to. Than knew the senator, but he did not have any reason to believe that she was connected to the Jedi. “How did it happen?”  
  
“She died in childbirth,” I answered truthfully, feeling preposterous in the clothes. They were working, he was taking in every stitch.  
  
“The Queen has told me that there has been some kind of special request, should we make her condition seem…” he murmured.  
  
“Her son is healthy, but I cannot let it be known that I was associated with her. We must make it appear that he is gone as well. I’m taking him with me to be adopted off world,” I let him see the child’s blue eyes. If anyone suspected a connection between Leia and Senator Amidala, the scene staged for Than would dispute it. In turn, this would go against what the Queen believed about Senator Organa. I was rather proud of the amount of consternation that meeting would cause the Empire’s agents, trying to figure out who the mysterious bureaucrat had been.  
  
\--  
  
I was back in my helmet and cape for the palace.  
  
Padme’s father looked at Senator Organa, his eyes red and weary. But it was her mother who spoke, “Padme had been in danger. She seemed afraid of something in the last few months. Do you think the Chanc…Emperor will investigate?”  
  
The family had been brought to the palace to receive the news. I should have stayed on the ship but I insisted on going. They had lost their daughter. I could not ignore this chance to show them compassion simply because it would have been easier to avoid it. That felt too much like cowardice.  
  
“He may. Did Padme have any enemies?” Senator Organa saw an opportunity that might work for us. Better to have Palpatine busy himself covering up what happened to Padme. He would surely feed them lies, but he would want to distance himself from their questions.  
  
“Only half the galaxy,” her father finally said.  
  
“She was friends with a Jedi. We met him a few times. Did the Jedi have something to do with this? We heard they were trying to take over the senate. Did they kill her?” Padme’s mother asked.  
  
That might be a convenient story, I thought. At least Padme’s reputation wasn’t the only one being besmirched. We let it pass in silence.  
  
“Well,” the senator said finally, “I must go and prepare myself for the funeral.”  
  
Before I followed the Senator’s retinue out of the room, I paused and bowed to Padme’s family. They had never met me, but I could not risk more than a moment or I might have been recognized. “I am so sorry,” I told them honestly and then slipped away.  
  
\--  
  
Yoda left the next morning. We had brought his small ship with us and he knew his best chance to get away would be while the Emperor’s shuttle was in hyperspace. Yoda would at least know Sideous’ route and avoid him.  
  
“Goodbye, my old friend. Speak with you again soon, I will,” I didn't ask if he knew anything for sure about the baby girl. He would tell me someday. I could not know until the time was right.  
  
“Goodbye, Master,” I bowed as low as I could to him, “May the Force be with you.”  
  
I was to depart with young Luke before the funeral. We would be taking public transport during Senator Organa’s press conference to announce the adoption of the new Princess Leia. All eyes would be on her. The Senator expected that a crush of the press would keep even Palpatine at bay for a time.  
  
I saw Senator Organa again as I prepared to depart. He was in his most formal regalia, looking every bit the stately gentleman. I wasn’t even on Tatooine and I already looked like a bloody hermit.  
  
“General Kenobi, on behalf of the Galactic Republic, I thank you for your service,” he bowed low.  
  
So this was the end to my life as a general, I thought, touched by his gesture. That was the first time since war’s end that I thought of all the Jedi and clones I’d served with and how it had all come to an end. A lump formed in my throat.  
  
He put his hand on my shoulder, “You said that you are going to Tatooine. I hear that it is a good place to disappear, if that is your intention. But I am still fearful for my daughter. What if she is in danger from something…something I can’t handle. What if the Sith come hunting her? Will I ever be able to find you?”  
  
“Yes. But I will not emerge unless I am sure that the message comes from you personally. A code word, perhaps,” I suggested.  
  
“Of course. What word do you propose?”  
  
“Hope.”  
  
\--  
  
Sith minds are not like Jedi minds. Sith minds are closed like fortresses. Jedi minds are open, making connections with other beings, filled with light. Jedi who connect through the Force can only do so through trust. Reading someone’s mind without permission is not the Jedi way. Sith masters did not connect through trust, not even with their apprentices. They used fear. Since there could only be two Sith, the master and apprentice were always plotting to replace one another, distrust was a given. Unlike the Jedi, the Sith would pry open a mind through the Force if they so chose.  
  
My transport was scheduled to leave, but the Emperor’s shuttle would be arriving nearby. I wore my brown robe, keeping Luke in in the folds. I was risking everything, I knew. It was reckless. But I had to know something and I knew this would be my only chance.  
  
On every screen at the airbase were images of Senator Organa touring the orphanage. He knelt down to shake hands with the children. He could be seen speaking with staff or holding the hands of younglings in sick beds.  
  
I was waiting on the edge of the landing platform, just another face in the crowd waiting to see our new Emperor come to his home planet for the first time. Palpatine’s silver shuttle landed and thunderous applause erupted.  
  
On the screens, Senator Organa was touring a nursery. He looked compassionate as he lifted a tiny bundled form out of a crib. His dark brows raised and he smiled down at the girl.  
  
The ramp was lowered and some representatives from the new Imperial Guard descended in their red robes. Commodex Than was there to direct the funeral.  
  
I lurched involuntarily as I was hit with pain, my body turned unbearably cold.  
  
A stooped, gnarled figure in a black robe and hood descended from the shuttle, his hands, bleached white as bone, folded in front of him.  
  
Luke wailed, but the sound was lost in the cheers. I hugged Luke tighter and I closed my eyes to draw strength. If Sideous noticed us, I would need to run. Than directed him towards the local speeders that would take him to the palace.  
  
I thought for certain that he would react. I winced, bracing for impact. But nothing came. I opened my eyes to look at him, but he showed no reaction at all. He couldn’t sense us. I was awash in relief. I started to walk away inconspicuously, while my rapid heartbeat began to slow.  
  
What happened next, I was not expecting. I didn’t think he would reappear that soon, certainly not there, an event that could cause him nothing but pain. Suddenly the little voice I remembered from the delivery room echoed in my head again. _Are you the one?_  
  
I knew the question was not meant for me. I grew even colder, but made myself continue moving through the crowd. I did my best to exude nothing but calm.  
  
_Why are you in pain? Who is hurting you?_ The voice asked.  
  
I nudged past people, but the crowd was packed in tightly. It was taking an eternity. I got to the ramp to the other platforms and broke into a run. _Why is he your master if he hurts you?_  
  
I did not stop running until I reached the transport. I boarded, glancing furtively behind me. From it, I could see in the distance that the Emperor was joined on the landing platform by another form, large and dark. The cold inside me swelled until I felt my frozen blood might burst out of my skin. He was mostly machine, cold and hard, the face of the helmet looked like a scorched skull. In that instant, I knew the horror that my apprentice had become. Despite how cold I felt, I began to sweat.  
  
The Senator Organa on the screens spoke to the cameras, “I would like to adopt this baby girl. May she be a symbol for the galaxy that we can heal from the scars of this war and forge a new future, together.”  
  
All of a sudden, the dark void where Anakin’s presence haunted my mind opened just a crack. I did not sense fear, but curiosity. He was not looking for me but the voice. Then I felt the familiar presence in my head. For a moment, I sensed confusion. Then his voice roaring through the Force, _You!_ I thought I was done for.  
  
“May I present, Princess Leia Organa, whom I adopt in honor of Senator Padme Amidala,” the screens showed Organa displaying her proudly. They cut to an image of Padme at her most beautiful. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by pain, as if I was being electrocuted. It was not my own pain but coming from my connection to the Force.  
  
The transport closed its door and took off and I could see below us the Emperor’s shuttle on the platform. I looked at the tall figure in black, still reeling. He hadn’t moved despite the torture I could feel he was undergoing internally. In those moments of our connection, I felt all of Anakin’s emotions. His confusion was extreme as if his very spirit was being ripped apart. He would never be sure if he’d really sensed us. That was my plan. Although I hadn’t expected it, I got the same feeling I remembered from the delivery room with Padme. Vader knew that something was feeding off of his suffering. Although he had only hatred for me, he was looking to that compassionate voice for help. Like me, Luke's connection was not to Vader, but Anakin.  
  
The ship flew into the atmosphere and hit hyperspace.  
  
\--  
  
The ship brought us to Mos Espa and we switched to a local transport bound for Mos Eisley. It was nothing more than a glorified tractor with an open bed trailer dragging behind. Several beings were jammed in the back, shoulder to shoulder. I shielded Luke in my robes to keep him out of the sun. He slept most of the way, exhausted from the heat.  
  
When we arrived in Mos Eisley, I checked with the local government clerk. The Lars homestead was out past a town called Anchorhead. It looked very small on the map. I tried to ask about it, but the bureaucrat was really going out of his way to let me know that I was bothering him.  
  
As for Mos Eisley, I have traveled the galaxy from one end to the other and never had I seen such a wretched place. The clerk sat behind laser proof glass. I shooed away a Jawa who tried to steal my supply pack. Another fellow offered death sticks for sale. Someone else asked the price of the baby. And that was just from the bureaucrats in the clerk’s office. When we came out of the building, there were a pair of Rhodians fist fighting in the street. Someone asked me if I wanted to make a bet on the outcome. Gambling on Tatooine! I couldn’t think of anything more uncouth.  
  
With the coordinates of the Lars homestead in hand, I bought an eopie and some supplies and headed for the desert. I thought that it would be easier to protect Luke from Sand People than that hive of scum, Mos Eisley. We camped that night out in the desert, under the stars. The terrain was so vast and dark that the sky seemed enormous.  
  
My mind wandered to another camping trip I had taken months before, with Anakin on Utapau. I felt at peace, so I let my heart fill with the memory. We were on a mission and he couldn’t sleep. Even when he was young, he didn’t sleep well. As usual, he kept his most personal thoughts secret from everyone. When he was young and something bothered him, he always came to me in time. But more and more, it had seemed there were things he wouldn’t tell me. Ahsoka, his apprentice, had recently chosen to leave the Jedi Order and it was still tormenting him. I had given him his space, but I finally felt that I should say something.  
  
“You can’t take responsibility for Ahsoka’s decision, Anakin,” I told him when I lay down to rest.  
  
“How would you feel if I turned into a major disappointment?” We were not facing each other, but I could hear the strain, sense the anguish.  
  
“It’s not the same,” I protested weakly. At the time, I could not even imagine the pain I would feel.  
  
“It’s precisely the same. You took me under your wing and practically raised me,” there was no practically about it, “I’m your padawan, just like Ahsoka was mine. How well would you sleep, knowing I failed you?” he’d asked.  
  
“Not very well, I imagine. Luckily that isn’t true, and never will be,” I’ll probably never be sure why I said that last part, my pride or my faith in him, or maybe I was just trying to ward away that terrifying scenario.  
  
I gave Luke a bottle before we would sleep. He grabbed my finger again with his tiny hand. His voice returned through the Force. _Who are you?_  
  
_I’m Ben._ This was a name I used when I worked undercover for the Jedi Order. It was kind of a private joke. Ben was my old name, what my family called me as a nickname. I don’t know how I knew that since I didn’t remember my family. Force wielders can use the Force early, as Luke did, but like most small children, we don’t remember much of it, just images, feelings. But I’d always felt that somehow, Ben was my real name, a part of myself. It was something of who I was before the general, before even the Jedi. _Trust me._  
  
_I trust you. You’re nice. Ben, who is Anakin?_  
  
_My friend._  
  
_Will he be alright?_  
  
_I don’t know._  
  
_I like those lights above. Can I see them closer?_  
  
_Another time. Hush now._  
  
_Ben, will you stay with me?_  
  
_I will be with you, always._  
  
\--  
  
Anchorhead had looked small on the map but that did not to justice to how shabby the place was in person. There wasn’t much, but positively everything looked like it was in a state of disrepair. No one I saw seemed to want to be there, but they all seemed too lethargic in the heat to do anything about it. I sensed no danger when we arrived. It was the first time in days that I didn’t feel like my life was threatened and it was like breathing air after coming up from underwater. In Anchorhead, it was stiflingly hot, the wind blew incessantly, the sand got everywhere, but I actually felt a spring in my step.  
  
I tried a few places to purchase a transmitter. I needed to contact the Lars farm, but nothing on offer looked to be in working order. I walked into the nearest watering hole and trading post, somewhere called the Tosche Station, to see if I could convince the proprietor to let me use theirs.  
  
“Haven’t seen you around these parts before. What’s your name, sir?” the owner said when I came in. Friendly type.  
  
“I’m Ben. Good to meet you,” we shook hands, “Is it always so quiet here?”  
  
There were no more than six people in the building, and the place still looked as if it was the center of life in Anchorhead. “This is the busy season,” he laughed. He didn’t have too many teeth left.  
  
I had been wearing my hood up since we reached Tatooine. I thought that I could risk it. I took it off and started making conversation as he poured me some water, “I suppose many people have left because of the war.”  
  
“Is that still going on?” he wiped the bar, “No, it’s always been about like this.”  
  
“I take it you don’t get the Holonet news out here?” I smirked. This place would do perfectly.  
  
“Nah, never get the reception. We hear things now and again if somebody goes into Mos Eisley or something. Just never affected us much,” he shrugged, “Too busy trying to survive out here.”  
  
His wife came in and saw Luke, “Oh, a baby! Is he your son?”  
  
“My charge,” I let her see him, “I’m bringing him to his new home.”  
  
“Does he have a name, yet?”  
  
“Well, his mother called him Luke,” I hesitated for a moment and tried to sense if there was danger. I found none, “and his father was called Skywalker.”  
  
The proprietor laughed, “That sounds like one of those nonsense names the Hutts give their slaves.”  
  
During the war, in most parts of the galaxy, the name was famous. General Skywalker was the scourge of the Separatists, the Hero without Fear. Now, the name would be associated with an infamous criminal or a martyr depending on which side you were on. Here in Anchorhead, Tatooine, the name Skywalker was a joke. Somehow, it was a joke I was able to find funny.  
  
“May I use your holo-transmitter, I need to call ahead to tell the family I am coming,” I asked, bemused.  
  
“Sure. What did you say your name was?”  
  
“Ben. Ben Kenobi,” it was just too easy.  
  
\--  
  
I wrapped myself in my outer robe to send the hologram, although my Jedi robes did not seem to be attracting any attention at all.  
  
A young man stepped into the hologram.  
  
“Owen Lars?”  
  
“Yes, who are you?”  
  
“My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi,” I felt that I should be formal. Anywhere else in the galaxy, this name was a legend. Owen registered no recognition at all. I went on, “Did you lose your step-mother three years ago?”  
  
“Yeah, that was about the last time we had any visitors. Is this about them? Miss Fancy Clothes and my step-brother, that guy with the weird hair. Never thought I’d hear from them again. Listen, I don’t want any more trouble.”  
  
“Trouble?”  
  
“Yeah, Shmi’s son…Anakin, was it? He came here looking for his mother. She’d always said her son was bought by an off worlder who said he would free him. But we all figured that the kid was still a slave. If he was free, he should have been able to come back and find her.” These were Jedi ways. I did not try to explain them to him. “She had wanted to maybe look him up once she was freed, but we never had the money,” he scratched the back of his head. “Anyway, we were really surprised when he actually turned up. He went to find Shmi but she was dead. I don’t know what happened, but we had to fight off the Sand People for months. They kept raiding the farm. I figured it had something to do with him. Strange clothes. Seemed dangerous. I made him out for some kind of no-good hooligan. So what’s he done?”  
  
I thought Luke deserved a better version of his past than what Owen described. There was no harm in revealing small truths, “Anakin fought in the war.”  
  
“Doing what?”  
  
“Oh, you know, this and that,” I did not want to lie to him, instead I searched for some information, something that I could tell Owen. All I could think of was his old scrapheap of a ship, The Twilight. That stupid thing had nearly gotten me killed on Mandalore. “For a while, I believe he flew a spice freighter…” I stopped myself, internally wincing. I didn't say that he'd actually transported spice, but The Twilight was a type of ship commonly used by drug runners. I had just made Anakin sound even dodgier than Owen thought.  
  
“So what do you want?” his tone turned slightly cold.  
  
“I am a friend of Anakin’s, I served with him,” the Clone War was vast, but somehow had not touched Tatooine. For the Hutts, the war had been business as usual. Out here in Anchorhead, the war was a distant story. My story didn’t really matter to Owen, “I’m afraid that Anakin and Padme have been killed. There is a slight problem.”  
  
“How much did he owe you,” Owen put his fists on his hips.  
  
“No, no. I’m afraid it is something else,” I picked up baby Luke and allowed Owen to see him. “They were murdered, but their child survived. The boy will be safe as long as he never leaves here.”  
  
Owen hung his head and kicked the sand beneath his feet, “Bring him,” he said wearily.  
  
“I am sorry to have to ask you this. I will do anything I can to help. I am a warrior, I would be happy to take him and train him, when he’s old enough?”  
  
“No way. You said it yourself, the boy stays here. We have no need for warriors. Enough of us die in droughts and famines, we don’t need war too. Nothing but a bunch of damn fool idealistic nonsense. We won’t raise that boy to have him following you off on some crusade to get killed like his father did. You just bring that baby here to us and be on your way. Let his family take care of him. That’s what he needs.”  
  
\--  
  
By the time I made my way to the farm, it was suns-set. Owen wouldn’t even come to meet me. However, his wife came out the door from the underground.  
  
“Hello,” she said shyly. Her large blue eyes were kind, “Who do we have here?”  
  
“This is my young friend, Luke Skywalker. He is a very curious little boy,” I whispered as she took him in her arms and I backed away, “Please take good care of him.”  
  
“I love him already,” she whispered back.  
  
\--  
  
I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, but I knew it when I found it. An old ramshackle hut deep into an area called the Jundland Wastes. By the contents, I think the former inhabitant was some kind of mineral prospector. I cleaned the house up and repaired it. I would make the journey to Anchorhead to get supplies when I needed to, it was a few day’s journey each way.  
  
I am almost ashamed to admit that it was my pleasure to give the impression that I was cracked. I wandered the desert. I still wore my robes. I wore my lightsaber. I was practically screaming for someone to find me out and it was increasingly absurd how obvious I was being. Out there, it never mattered. I actually walked into a store one day and asked anyone if they’d heard about the Battle of Christophsis. “Buy something or get out,” the owner told me. I had never been so free from danger. I had never been so free of responsibility. If you can’t amuse others, amuse yourself.  
  
I found that I even liked to be alone. For the first time since childhood, I had the time to observe the world, to learn and be curious. I observed the stars, the moons, and suns. I experienced the seasons. I became familiar with the animals and plants that inhabited the planet. I was delighted to find that the desert was not dead as it seemed, but teeming with strange life. I watched both the animals and sentient creatures and learned their habits. There seemed to be no end of things to discover. It was healing me.  
  
One night I sat, not meditating, just sitting, as I often did, taking everything in, perceiving, not sensing.  
  
Finally, I felt at peace, ready. I closed my eyes, reached out into the cosmic Force, and called.  
  
All around me I saw stars. Then Yoda was there beside me.  
  
_Master, I am sure that the boy is safe._  
  
_Good, this is._  
  
_I cannot train him now._  
  
_Train yourself you must, remember your mission._  
  
_My mission was to protect the boy. But he is with the family, he doesn’t need me._  
  
_Train yourself, for the time, when need you he will._  
  
_Master, what if something happens to me? Who will protect him then?_  
  
_Prevent you from your mission, nothing can, not even death._  
  
_When will the boy need me? When will he be ready?_  
  
_When the moment it comes, you will know._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Getting Attached to Him](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12024378) by [sharkcar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkcar/pseuds/sharkcar)




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